Internal CEO communication becomes more important
In a survey of the 120 companies with the most employees in Switzerland, over 80 percent of the responding communications specialists state that internal CEO communications will become more important in the future. In particular, communicating corporate strategy and values will become even more relevant.
In 2019, the Perikom fact check will be accompanied for the first time by a scientific evaluation by the HWZ Hochschule für Wirtschaft Zürich and will provide an accurate picture of the situation of internal communication in large Swiss companies. The survey on internal CEO communication aims to gain insights into how the communication of the managing directors towards the employees in connection with digitalization in the most employee-strong companies in Switzerland is today and how it is perceived to develop in the future. Communications and HR managers from the 120 companies with the largest workforce in Switzerland were asked to take part in the survey. The completion rate of the questionnaire is 55.8 percent; of the 120 experts asked, 67 completed the questionnaire in full.
Importance of CEO communication increases
The communications and HR managers who took part in the study affirmed the increasing importance of internal CEO communications over the past five years (52% "tend to agree", 30% "completely agree"). When asked whether the importance of internal CEO communications will continue to increase in the future, the percentages of agreement are similarly high (56% "tend to agree," 31% "completely agree"). Only a minority disagrees with this assessment (4.5% "strongly disagree", 7.5% "strongly disagree").
Transparency promotes trust in management
What content will be more important in internal CEO communications in the future? Here, mainly strategy and goals as well as values and attitudes are mentioned. Content relating to facts and figures is considered less relevant. As many as 63 percent of respondents agreed with the thesis that transparency as a sign of trust will become even more important in the future. It helps to promote trust in management. In contrast, only 13 percent of the company representatives surveyed agreed that their CEO also talks to employees about failures. Furthermore, 25 percent affirmed - without reservation - that a strategy for internal CEO communication existed in their companies. Further analysis of the study will also show which channels and instruments are mainly used for CEO communication.
The full study on internal CEO communication is currently being prepared. The results will be presented for the first time at the annual Perikom conference on May 23 at the HWZ Hochschule für Wirtschaft. www.perikom.ch
